Angaran Mother's Day
by Jaal Ama Darav
Summary: A mission, the aftermath, and introducing Jaal and Sahuna to Mother's Day.


**Angaran Mother's Day**

Netiquur, located in the Vaotessa system and bathed in the orange light of the star Vaotessa. With an average temperature of negative seven degrees Celsius, atmospheric pressure of point eighty two, and rare instances of snow or when warm enough rain, the planet was not quite suitable for the Initiative. The Angara, however, could live here, considering they lived fine on Voeld, which was a lot colder.

Two months ago, a joint Angara-Initiative mining and research colony had been set up near a massive forest Sakura had discovered while scanning the planet from the Tempest many months ago. A forest that was either always on the planet, or more likely placed there deliberately or by accident.

They seemed fine. But a week ago, a passing Initiative shuttle carrying Apex militia received a distress signal from the colony, and responded. They vanished.

Days later, an Angaran Resistance team responded, they disappeared also.

Desperate and scared, the Initiative and Angara sent Pathfinder Sakura Ryder. However, she didn't come without backup. Bain Massani and several of his team members set down on the surface as well, they were to remain hidden, to sneak about and if this is a Kett trap, to then ambush the enemy and sow chaos and confusion in their ranks. The rest waited on their ship as backup, same for the rest of Sakura's Pathfinder away team.

* * *

Sakura Ryder sighted the abandoned Angaran shuttle and Initiative shuttle one hundred meters ahead. The outer buildings of the settlement were a further fifty meters past that.

Sakura had black hair, her skin tone was brown, and her blue eyes were focused downrange. She wore armor which resembled Angaran designs- being slightly more curved and having thicker armor for more protection. And colored blue and white.

She had her orange holographic omni-tool active and the comms channel open to Bain, whose face was visible on the holographic screen. "Bain, how's your progress?"

Bain Massani was not the slightest bothered by the chill in the air. "Progressing. Not getting the missing teams or the settlement on the comms."

He was bald, had blue eyes, a slight beard and mustache coming in, and wore black and gray armor.

Sakura shook her head. "What could cause them to disappear?" _Please don't let it be Kett._

Bain looked as confused as the Pathfinder did. "No clue. Could be Kett, but that would only mean terrible things. Be on guard, Bain out."

"Same to you, Sakura out." Sakura deactivated her omni-tool. And pulled her blue and black Remnant Sweeper assault rifle off the magnetic attachment on the back of her armor.

To Sakura's left, Cora Harper kept pace, her gray Initiative shotgun readied. Usually Peebee came along, but two teams disappearing worried Sakura. What if they were next? And Cora's Biotic Charge is a real lifesaver, she could respond to any attempts at sneak attacks or flanking in mere moments.

Cora had fair skin, blond hair, and wore blue and white armor.

To Sakura's right was Jaal Ama Darav, he always came with her on missions. Before the mission, he had admitted the mission concerned him, but felt good about Cora being there also.

Angara were humanoid with several differences. A growth similar to a cobra's hood, folds of flesh on the sides of their heads which extended to their chests. Their hands had the bone structure for five fingers though the final three fingers were densely webbed into a single digit. Their lower legs are bowed backwards significantly compared to Humans or Asari.

Jaal wore black armor and a blue poncho-type garment over the armor called a rofjinn. He also had a scar on his left neck flap, and another on his right cheek from Akksul, who had shot him. He was a head taller than Sakura.

It was no secret to the crew and team on the Tempest, Evfra de Tershaav, or Paaran Shie that there was love between him and Sakura.

Jaal's weapon of choice was a modified green Kett sniper rifle.

Sakura kept her weapon pointed downrange. "Jaal, I know this planet was planned to have colonies. Did something happen?"

"No. This planet was first marked by Paaran Shie's family when they fled the Kett. They had to keep fleeing and eventually found and founded Aya." Jaal looked at the Pathfinder then turned his attention downrange. "Thirty years ago, a colony was planned on this world. But concerns about resources and the Kett caused things to grind to a halt. They did try again twenty, ten, and five years ago but no traction, things had gotten worse."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgment. She knew some of the 'Things were getting worse.' thing. Voeld was a clear example, and the stories she would hear were no better. In hindsight, she was glad the Andromeda Initiative arrived when they did, after six hundred thirty four years of constant Faster Than Light travel.

Had they not arrived, or arrived later, who knows what would have happened? It was possible she would've never met Jaal. He could've been killed, enslaved, or worse Exalted. And if he had been turned and she had killed him, never knowing what he could've meant to her...

She quickly banished the thought. _Don't think about that._

As they approached the Angaran shuttle, it was obvious it had been here a while. One of the white side doors was still open, awaiting a pilot and passengers that never returned. A thin layer of snow from a rare snowfall had accumulated on the door and top of the shuttle. The black side platforms along the bottom of the shuttle had accumulated snow as well. Platforms, she learned from a Resistance pilot, that were for assistance getting into the ship, and made it easier to pull up to a landing platform.

Sakura looked at Jaal. "You know Angara ships better than I do, lead the way." Though she had a scanner, Jaal would know what systems to check for clues.

"Follow close." He stepped up into the ship.

Sakura followed. "Looks like no one's been here in some time." Snow had blown in as well. Covering parts of the dark gray floor and piling up in the corners and along walls.

Jaal walked to the cockpit. And pressed a button on the control panel. A blue interface popped up. Controls for the ship itself, status of its systems, and more.

Jaal observed it, hand over the engine start-up button.. "Everything looks fine, I could even start it up." He moved his hand away from it. "But doing so might attract hostile attention."

Sakura knew he was right. Starting the ship's engines up would be like putting up a giant sign saying 'We're here!'. "Any logs?"

Jaal was putting in commands into the interface screen. "Appears the pilot left something." He pressed a button and a screen came up, it was blank except a line, one of those audio screens.

The message played, a male Angara's voice was hard, with the slightest hint of fear. "They haven't returned, it's been twelve hours. Skkutting stars." A pause. "I'm going to see what happened to them, see if they need help. Jofra Ivfra signing out." The message stopped.

Cora looked out the open door. "He must have went to see if he could find his team, and-"

The Pathfinder shook her head. "Vanished like his team." A sense of unease grew within the pit of her stomach. "A whole team and their pilot don't just vanish without a trace."

Jaal looked at Sakura, unease in his voice. "I hope its not true, but it's looking like Kett."

Sakura shivered, but not from the cold. "Agreed, let's check out the Initiative shuttle, might be more clues."

The three left the drop ship, carefully observing their surroundings and the ground.

The snow was too sparse to leave any tracks at first. Near the shuttle, the snow thickened and partial tracks were visible.

Sakura attached her assault rifle to her back then activated her scanner, which appeared orange, and scanned the tracks. "SAM?"

SAM was heard. "Tracks too sparse to be identifiable. But a possibility exists they may be Kett."

"I hope that's not the case." Sakura turned her scanner on the shuttle itself. She scanned the door and read the results.

'Analysis: Shuttle door forced open with tools. Tools used unknown.'

Cora looked at the Pathfinder, brows knitted together in concern. "Forced open? That's never good."

"Stay alert." Sakura stepped into the shuttle. She turned to the cockpit and approached the control panel. Observing it, she saw it was inactive. She looked to the left, and quickly found the activation button and turned it on. An orange interface popped up.

SAM was heard. "Recommend checking the most recent log."

Sakura quickly brought up the logs, and selected the most recent one. Like the Angara one, it was audio.

A male Human voice, sounding outright terrified, was heard. "I hear them, they're outside! I can hear them!"

Footsteps were heard outside the ship. Followed by banging.

The man whimpered. "I was with the team. They took everyone in the colony, then everyone on my team! I ran as fast as I could, I could hear their screams." He started to sob. "I can still hear them screaming!" He whimpered loudly this time. "Ran right back to the shuttle. But the pilot was gone! They must've took him as well!"

The sound of the door being forced open was heard.

The man was frantic. "No! They're getting in!"

Footsteps were heard. Along with voices.

Sakura tensed. _Those voices...o_ _h no._

"No!" The man screamed in terror, the sound of a struggle could be heard. "No! Let me go! No!" The sound of dragging was accompanied with terrified screaming. "Someone, help!" The dragging and his screams faded to nothing while the seconds passed.

The screen then skipped to show the message- no further activity for seven hours, shut down.

Jaal rubbed his forehead, trembling.

 _Kett._ Sakura placed a hand on Jaal's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Jaal looked at Sakura, on the verge of tears."Too many times I've seen this. Too many. Resistance fighters when missions go wrong. Parents pleading for someone to at least save their children." Jaal sounded on the verge of tears, it wasn't just his eyes now. "It was worst when we are too late to save the children."

Sakura hugged Jaal tightly. "I am so sorry." She knew the Angara had it rough, but hearing the stories directly just make it so much worse.

Jaal hugged her tightly, letting some tears flow.

Sakura received an incoming transmission on her omni-tool. "Need to get this, might be Bain." She released her embrace, Jaal doing likewise. And activated the comms on her omni-tool.

Bain was heard. "Found evidence of Kett activity. Kett tracks, and some disposed Kett military rations."

"Same here." Sakura sighed. "The Angara team is still unaccounted for. Their pilot apparently went to search for them and vanished as well. And the Initiative team..." She paused. "One of them made it back to the drop ship, the pilot was gone. He either couldn't fly it, or was too terrified to think straight and try to put in an auto-pilot course. The Kett broke in and took him too."

Bain swore. "Shit! Bony bastards! Always taking from us and the Angara." He paused. "Be careful, we'll move into position, Comibia found a Hydra mech the Kett attached their tech to. They think they can use it. Unfortunately for them, it will only serve us."

Sakura smiled. "Good! When we go in, if they laid a trap, they're in for a nasty surprise."

"For certain. Its in one of the buildings. Bain signing out." The communications screen went blank.

Sakura turned off her omni-tool and removed her weapon from her back. "Let's go, we still have Kett to defeat and the missing to find."

The team approached the settlement. Sakura leading, Cora to her left, and Jaal to her right. Weapons ready.

Cora spoke, her voice full of tension. "Something feels really wrong here, we may be walking right into a trap."

Sakura looked ahead, at the main central building. "Good thing Bain and his team are here." She paused. "If it is a trap, stick to the plan."

The three approached the main building and its large set of doors. Which suddenly opened.

Cora tensed. "Something's not-"

A dozen Kett, with an Ascendant in front of them, stood just inside.

Kett Ascendants were quite tall, with black skin, white bones covering their bodies as well as forming a crest around their head, with green metallic armor for additional protection.

Dozens more poured out of nearby buildings.

Kett Chosen were bipedal with black skin, bones covering their bodies which served as armor, with additional green metallic armor for more protection. Worse, they used to be Angara, but were horrifically twisted and corrupted by the cruel process of Exaltation.

Kett Anointed were similar to but larger and stronger than Chosen.

Kett Destined were similar to Chosen but slightly different. They were a different species that was Exalted and now serve the Kett. Most notable is that their bony crest covers the entire top of their head and has three points- one on top and two to the sides.

"By the Goddess!" Cora quickly stood between Jaal and Sakura, and put up a biotic barrier. "I knew it was a trap!"

The Kett had them surrounded.

The Ascendant grinned. "You really walked into it this time, Pathfinder."

Sakura saw out the corner of her eye the glint of Bain's former Special Tasks Group Salarian teammate's sniper rifle scope. "And now the part where you gloat."

The Ascendant looked offended. "Gloat? No." He looked at the Pathfinder. "You can either turn yourself over to us and we'll let the other two go." He turned his attention to Cora, then Jaal, lingering on the Angara a bit longer. "Or you turn your teammates over to us, and we'll let you go."

Sakura glared, anger roiling. "Really?! You think I'd just hand myself over?" She folded her arms, almost too angry to talk. "And you really think there's a chance I'd hand Jaal and Cora to you?!"

The Ascendant looked more than a bit pissed off. "Or we'll take you all by force."

Sakura placed two fingers along the trigger of her weapon. "I'd like to see you try."

* * *

Behind a portion of the rooftop and cover, Taelin Uji looked through his sniper scope, and saw the signal. Two fingers along the trigger of the weapon.

He was a Salarian, a bipedal race who had tall, elongated bodies with large oval eyes and a pair of cranial horns on top of their head as well as three fingered hands.

The Salarian looked over to Tesuna, his Asari teammate, crouched down on his left and nodded.

Asari looked very similar to Human females, some differences being their skin tones and semi-flexible cartilage-based scalp-crests.

Tesuna stood up. Her biotic aura was alight, and she spread the biotic energy to nearby loose objects. "Let them have it!" She hurled the objects at one side of the ring of Kett, crushing some and impaling others. The rest with a clear field of vision fired at those at the rooftop.

The Salarian fired back, every shot hitting their marks.

Tesuna hurled biotic orbs at the Kett, one after another without pause.

To her right, Comibia Melion pressed some buttons on her omni-tool.

She was a Turian, a bipedal race whose most distinguishing feature was their metallic carapace, they had three fingers per hand.

The doors to the building on the other side of the open area busted open, and the Hydra Mech stomped out.

Comibia spoke through the omni-tool's comms, broadcasting her voice through the mech's comms as well. "Get away from them, you bony spirits-damned creeps!"

Instead of the usual white, the Hydra mech now had green plating along its arms, indicative of Kett modifications.

Bain Massani was further behind the Salarian, covering their rear.

* * *

The Ascendant's eyes went wide in shock at the destruction wrought by Tesuna's surprise attack and the mech that had busted out of the building. "How?! That mech is under our control!"

Sakura grinned. "Teamwork. And that mech was hacked, it serves Comibia now."

The Ascendant quickly deployed the drone which then projected his shield. "Imbeciles! Lowly creatures of dirt!"

Jaal fired a shot from his sniper rifle at the Ascendant to no avail. "We're more than that, you skkutting monster!"

Cora maintained the barrier despite the punishment being laid on it. She spoke through her comms to Bain and his team. "Deal with these Goddess-damned assholes fast! Can't keep this up much longer!"

Comibia was heard. "Won't take long."

The mech turned its laser guided homing missiles and Gatling gun on the Kett surrounding the biotic barrier, and fired. Plasma-sheathed projectiles tore through unshielded ones like tissue paper. Laser-guided rockets tore through shielded ones.

An Kett Anointed rushed straight at the mech during the cool-down on the missiles.

Comibia's voice barely hid a laugh. "Fool..."

The mech snatched up the Kett in a clawed metallic hand, who was now yelling and cursing at the mech. The construct paid no heed, turned to the Ascendant, and hurled the Anointed straight at his boss.

The Kett struck the Ascendant's shield with a loud crackle and bounced off, hitting the ground with a pained groan.

He quickly struggled to his feet, and gave the mech an angry death glare.

The Ascendant's eyes narrowed. " **Enough!"** He looked down at the Anointed. "Go release the beasts!"

The Anointed quickly limped away into the building.

Cora's eyes widened. "Did I hear him say...beasts?!"

Sakura gunned down another Kett soldier. "Not sure, but-"

Ferocious roars answered her question in an instant.

The Ascendant glared, more Kett rushed out from behind him. "Survive this!" He prepared an energy sphere.

The Salarian sniper was heard. "Four Fiends, dozens of Wraiths-" He paused. "And dozens of Kett soldiers and that Ascendant..."

Wraiths were quadruple armored dog-like beasts, black skin with bony protrusions along their bodies.

Fiends were large quadruple Kett heavy attack beasts. They were very strong, had the same black skin and bony protrusions along its body, and razor sharp fangs.

A biotic Flare blast engulfed the Ascendant and blew away the Kett nearby. The blue energy dissipated, revealing the Ascendant still there, looking more pissed off.

The former Asari Justicar landed inside of the shield. "Didn't work." She looked at the Pathfinder team. "This is going to require teamwork. Or we won't be getting out alive."

Bain Massani was heard over the comms. "Pathfinder team, deal with the Kett. We'll deal with the beasts."

Sakura nodded. "Understood."

Tesuna ran to help Comibia's hacked mech against the Fiends.

The mech was already tearing through the Wraith horde.

A new roar from off the distance was heard along with Bain's panicked yelling. "Another Fiend!"

Sakura turned to look, and sure enough a fifth Fiend had crawled up on the building and went for Bain, who jumped away along with Comibia.

The monster headed for the Salarian.

The Salarian was a bit too slow, and was slapped off the rooftop to the ground below.

The Fiend landed nearby and advanced, looking hungry.

* * *

Jaal saw the Salarian fall to the ground out of the corner of his eye. And the Fiend as well.

Sakura and Cora were busy with the Kett soldiers and the Ascendant. And with Bain and Comibia recovering from falling, no one else would have time to react. "Hold them off, Taelin needs help!"

Sakura quickly glanced back. "Be careful, Jaal!" She resumed her biotic and Sweeper thrashing of the Kett, and the Ascendant.

Jaal ran to the Salarian, who was getting back up.

The Fiend quickly approached, looking at the Salarian like he was the next meal.

"Watch out!" Jaal pushed Taelin out of the way of the creature's grasp. Holding his rifle in his left hand, he unsheathed the Firaan hidden under his Rofjinn with his right, facing the monster.

A Firaan was a small Angaran dagger used for combat, and made of a metal designed to channel bioelectricity.

The Fiend swiftly grabbed the Angara

Its grasp was tight, his left arm squeezed in between his body and the creature's hand, he still had a good grip on the rifle but couldn't aim it. He still had use of his arm holding the Firaan.

The Fiend roared and brought him towards its mouth.

He heard Sakura cry out. "Jaal! No!"

"You're not eating anyone, you monster!" Jaal gathered his bioelectricity into the Firaan and when he was close enough to really smell its foul breath, rammed the blade into the roof of the creature's mouth, and felt a piercing pain.

Its upper teeth had cut deep into his arm, blue blood ran down his armor sleeve. Pushing past the pain, he channeled his bioelectricity into a technique only few Angara can use.

A blue blade was almost visibly cutting out the top of the creature's skull, Jaal moved his Firaan down, cutting the monster's brain.

The creature roared in agony.

Jaal ripped out the Firaan. And felt the creature's grasp slacken and release him. He fell down to the ground, picked himself up, grabbed his Firaan and rifle, and backed away.

The creature thrashed while standing on its two hind legs. And fell to the ground with a heavy thud where the Angara was moments earlier.

He re-sheathed his Firaan and attached his rifle to his armor magnets on his back. "What terrible beasts." He winced in pain and placed a hand on his wound. He knew it was bad, Lexi would have to treat it.

* * *

Sakura ran to Jaal. "You had me worried." She saw the wound. "We need to cover that up." She removed the med-kit attached to her armor and opened it.

Jaal removed his hand from the wound. "They weren't kidding about razor sharp teeth."

"Lexi will need to look at this." Sakura applied the medi-gel and wrapped the gauze around the wound. "That should hold."

Taelin ran to the two. "Thank you, Jaal. Thought I was dinner." He looked at the bandaged up wound. "Have to say, that was one crazy and brave move."

Cora dashed to the group. "Kett and the Ascendant taken care of."

Sakura looked at Cora, and saw her armor was splattered with green blood. "Let me guess, biotic Charge followed by a Nova, then a shotgun blast?"

Cora smiled. "Yes, that Ascendant thought he could get away from me once his shield failed again, but I ensured he didn't."

Comibia was heard over the comms. "Tesuna nailed three of them! Will handle the last one!"

Sakura and Jaal turned their attention to the carnage of the battle of Tesuna and Comibia's mech against the beasts. All the Wraiths were dead. Three of the Fiends were dead, the mech had hurt one of the three badly, Tesuna's biotic attacks had killed two and finished off a third.

The last one was hurt, bad. But the mech was obviously out of ammo. No rockets or bullets were fired, it was fighting in melee.

Comibia was heard. "Tesuna, set up a biotic barrier. Everyone else, get inside her barrier. Going to blow this beast to pieces."

Tesuna quickly fell back to where Sakura, Jaal, and Taelin were. Cora, Bain, and Comibia herself joined.

The female Turian pressed buttons on her omni-tool. "Now watch as the Fiend dies with the mech." She finished inputting commands.

The Fiend was tearing into the mech. The mech emitted a loud whine, and a ticking sound from within. The ticking quickened.

Then with a thunderous boom, it exploded. Shrapnel flew everywhere, some deflected by Tesuna's barrier.

The Fiend was hurled back, charred and unmistakably dead.

Sakura sighed. "Finally, there's a reason I hate those things, especially in numbers.

Tesuna dropped her barrier. "That was exhausting."

Bain looked at everyone. "My team, except for Tesuna, will stand guard at the main entrance. Considering things, looks like this main building holds the missing." He looked at Tesuna. "Go with the Pathfinder team."

Sakura looked at Bain. "You saw?"

Bain nodded. "Yes. Brave. But resulted in injury. If there's more of the bony bastards down there, you'll need some backup."

Sakura glanced at one of the unexplored structures. "And the other buildings?"

"Some taken care of. Will be calling in our drop ship. Will need it for the survivors if we find any."

"Understood." With that, the Pathfinder, Jaal, Cora, and Tesuna headed into the main building.

* * *

The first room past the entrance was a mess. Chairs overturned. Objects strewn everywhere.

Sakura took point, Cora to her left. Jaal to her right. Tesuna kept pace behind between Jaal and Sakura, biotics readied.

Cora swept her shotgun across the floor. "Whatever happened here…there's no bodies."

Sakura had noticed. "Creepy bastards."

Sakura opened the only available door, leading to another room. Beyond that, was a door. Kett tech was to the sides of the door. They headed through, and found a decontamination room.

SAM was heard. "They were attaching their tech to ours."

Sakura grit her teeth. "Adaptive...this is going to be trouble."

Once the process finished, the team headed on to the next room.

Jaal shook his head slightly. "This...is a lab...nothing good will come out of this."

Tesuna moved closer to the Angara. "Stick close." To the rest of the team. "Don't go out of sight."

The first room had Kett lab equipment and on a table by the other door, and worse syringes used for Exaltation.

Kett technology, whether it be their bases, ships, or vehicles, was often highly biomimetic, looked like bio-technology but wasn't. Green and bulbous. And the interiors were usually washed in a green or blue light.

Sakura went to the nearest table, the one with the syringes, and picked up the datapad. "Check them out."

* * *

 **Success**

Translated from Tonaizhet:

Colony captured. One of the 'Milky Way' specimens teams responded. Captured as well. And one of the 'Angara' teams responded. Captured.

Had enough Exaltation fluid to ascend all the 'Angara' in the colony. Awaiting more for captured 'Angara' team and their pilot.

Need three days for shipment arrival.

* * *

Sakura felt sick to her stomach. They were too late for some of them. Some of the Kett they killed were likely the freshly Exalted Angara of the colony. "They turned the Angara of the colony...and were awaiting more of the stuff...to turn the missing team and their pilot..."

Jaal bowed his head in sorrow. "We were too late."

Tesuna turned to Sakura, sadness in her voice. "This datapad...they desired to acquire more, in their words, 'specimens'. And worse, they've almost figured out how to Exalt my people."

Cora's eyes widened and she gasped. "They do that...and the Kett will become a lot stronger."

Yelling was heard from beyond the door, unmistakably Angaran, terrified and desperate. "Someone there? Get us out of here!"

Tesuna was first to the door. "With me, stick close!" The door opened, and Tesuna readied a Lance.

Beyond, no Kett scientists were present.

The lab tables had bodies on them. Human, Asari, Turian, and Salarian. Dissected and who knows what else.

Tesuna cautiously entered. She looked down to one end of the room, then the other. "No Kett, not even their Scientists. Must've joined the fight against us." She saw a single door. "Bet that's where the yelling came from."

Cora looked at the Pathfinder. "Go, will cover the door."

Sakura nodded and ran to the door. "Jaal, with me!" As she approached, she readied her Sweeper.

Jaal readied his rifle, keeping the weight off his injured arm.

The door opened on their approach.

Jaal ran in first, followed closely Sakura.

There were numerous holding cells. And in the ones on the other side of the room, the missing Angara team, and their pilot.

The team leader was first to speak, his voice full of fear. "Get us out of here!"

Sakura ran forward. "On it!" She headed to the control panel and placed a hand on the interface. "SAM?"

SAM was heard. "One moment." A pause. "Unlocking."

The green energy fields on the holding cells holding the Angara deactivated, the glass and ceiling lifted up, leaving the floor.

The leader of the team approached. "Thank the stars. I thought we were done for." He sighed. "Name's Varvij Sha."

Another team member, female, approached. "Tell her about what we saw. They were..." She couldn't continue.

Varvij looked at her. "We're getting out of here." He looked at the Pathfinder and Jaal. "We...saw them Exalt the other Angara of this colony. And heard the cries from..." He hesitated. "...the lab."

Jaal stepped forward. "We're getting out of here, and to Aya."

Sakura activated her omni-tool to Bain. And his image appeared on the vid-screen. "Found the Angara Resistance team and their pilot. They're alive, but shaken. Said they heard the cries and whimpers from the lab, and saw the other Angara of the colony get Exalted."

Bain swore loudly. "I'd be curled up crying in fear, but I wouldn't know, haven't seen-"

Varvij spoke. "Some of my team were succumbing to despair, one of them was curled up, crying." He paused. "You've got room on your ship? Don't think we're in any condition to be doing anything."

She looked up for a moment. "Yes." She looked at Bain. "Call in your ship, I'm calling the Tempest in. We're going to make sure the Angara get back to Aya."

Bain nodded. "Understood, Bain out."

"Sakura out." Sakura switched to the Tempest comms. "Kallo, lock in on my signal. Have an Angara team, and their pilot that we need to take back to Aya. They saw untold horrors and worse...Exaltation."

Kallo's voice barely hid his sadness. "Will be there soon."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **My Andromeda Mother's Day story. First chapter.**

 **Thanks to erinaceous on Archive of Our Own and Hawaki for helping me with my too fast pacing, taking that lesson learned and using it for this story.**

 **Hope the pacing wasn't too fast.**

 **Constructive criticism is appreciated. Barely got the first chapter posted on Mother's Day. Though it wasn't without cause- in a few days I will have surgery (I have a bad tooth that needs to be pulled and some in the very back that need to be pulled and my mouth is so small that its hard to do that) and its worrying me. Making me kind of off a bit. Planning a short one-chapter Jaal and Sakura Ryder story set a few weeks after the Battle of Meridian to keep my mind off of it, as well as replaying the original Mass Effect trilogy.**

 **Let me know if I missed some mistakes or if something is off, will fix it before starting the next chapter.**


End file.
